


Lucian Thief

by ChocobosTrinket (Neverforget94)



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Accidental Baby Acquisition, Gen, OC, Other, Young Cor, baby prompto
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-12
Updated: 2018-03-12
Packaged: 2019-03-30 08:23:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13947639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neverforget94/pseuds/ChocobosTrinket
Summary: Cor stole baby from the facility he was supposed to scout, with the help of a young scientist who he also accidentally stole, with the help of the chancellor....That probably shouldn't go in his report.





	Lucian Thief

**Author's Note:**

> Just kind of a self indulgent piece I originally posted on my tumblr. I almost changed the story completely and had him steal two of the clones instead. But I managed to talk myself out of that. Maybe I'll write a follow up one day. Anyways, enjoy.

It was frigid in the hallway, and the dimmed lights only added to a feeling of being out of place. And he was very out of place since he was neither one of Niflheim’s scientists, or one of their experiments. Such was the nature of Cor’s mission though. Infiltrate the facility, find any useful information, don’t get caught. 

Being out of place wasn’t anything new.

However, what was new was all the luck he’d been having once he was inside the building. The first door he’d managed to sneak through lead to what appeared to be a staff lounge of sorts, giving him a chance to catch his breath after being outside in the cold. Not only that, but there had been a map of the facility with a note on it, labeling a recent add on as where the Deathless project would be stored.

He’d figured that just the map would have been the Astrals smiling upon him. But the note? That sent red flags up in his head considering Project Deathless was precisely why he was here. Could someone have leaked that? Was it a trap? But trap or no trap, he’d have to check out the location marked on the map anyways. It’d be a good starting point. And on the off chance it wasn’t a trap, he’d be that much closer to getting the information he needed and getting out.

So, he’d left the room and embarked down the hall, making sure to memorize the way back for a quick escape. Occasionally, there was one of the Magitek soldiers ambling through the halls on a patrol. They weren’t very good at it though, considering that hiding behind the occasional box or around a corner seemed to be enough to keep himself out of trouble.

But then he’d stumbled upon a small shelf with papers on it.

He’d grabbed the top most paper on the stack and frowned. A memo with an all access pass code to the facility. Ironically, it stated that the employees needed to stop leaving the passcodes laying around. If he wasn’t careful, the frown on his face would become permanent. This was entirely too convenient, the enemy must have known he was coming, and he was probably dead the moment he’d walked through the doors. No. The moment he’d left Lucis

…That, or he’d done something that’d pleased the Astrals astronomically.

He could guess which was more likely.

But it had him curious. Just what kind of trap was he walking into? So, he’d continued to the room, which was, predictably, locked with a keypad. Warily, he punched in the code from the memo and stepped to the side as the door opened with a pressurized noise. He drew his blade and waited until the count of five before stepping out from his cover and rolled into the room. He landed in a crouch and was ready for a fight, tense and waiting. His focus was on the area around him, and his intuition ready to tell him where any strike may come from.

So, it was something of a surprise to find nothing popping out to attack him.

Cautiously, he lowered his blade and rose to his feet, eyes scanning the room. Nothing. There were no guards, none of the magitek, or even any scientists.

“Just what kind of security are they running over here?” He muttered under his breath and he sheathed his sword and started to look through the room.

It’d been quiet for almost half an hour as he perused the documents laying around, hoping to find something of use. Since it was so quiet, when lights turned on behind him suddenly, he’d been startled. He spun around quickly, hand already on his hilt when he ended up freezing.

His heart clenched. The documents had mentioned infants he recalled. He’d assumed that had been for a study of some sort. Assigning case numbers and such. Instead, he was face to face with an unspeakable act. The light that had startled him was emitting from seven tanks, and inside each one floated an infant. All of them drifting in their tanks, unware he was there.

Each tank also had what appeared to be paperwork attached to it. Perhaps holding what he was looking for. Though he hoped not. Slowly, he made his way over, and with every step his morals were screaming out that everything about this was wrong. He approached one of the tanks, picking up its papers, and slowly inhaled before reading. As he read, his face slowly paled, and his eyes widened by the slightest of margins.

The realization that this was what he was looking for almost knocked the wind out of him. He looked at the baby in the tank, floating inside, eyes closed as if it was sleeping, blond hair floating freely around him. He’d never been an emotional kind of man. No. But seeing a child’s face, and knowing what their fate would be was one of the hardest things he’d ever experienced.

This was Project Deathless.

He dropped the paperwork before he thought better of it, needed a moment to adjust to the reality he was in. How had Niflheim allowed this to happen? To let infants be raised for war and nothing else. To be twisted by demon blood and changed from human to machine.

His hands slightly shook as he picked up the papers to take them with, recalling just how many of the magitek he’d slain over the years. If the papers were to be believed, they’d all started out as this. Just a child, robbed of any other life they might have had.

With a heavy heart, he turned to leave. He had what he needed. But as he got to the door he paused and looked back. He felt tired and knew that making decisions when he was tired wasn’t the wisest of choices. But as he gazed back into the room at the child, he made a choice. He crossed the room quickly, recalling what he’d read and pressed three buttons.

One to drain the tank, the second to turn off the vital monitors, and the third to lower the glass.

This wasn’t his best idea, and there was also no way he could rationalize saving one life, and he knew that this wasn’t atoning for the countless he’d taken. But his damn conscience wasn’t going to let him walk away from this child. It was screaming for him to take them all in fact.

But he couldn’t.

Once the glass had dropped, he picked up the child as it coughed up the liquid and cradled it to his chest. Once the child had finished coughing, he breathed normally, and his pulse was strong. Considering that the child had just been submerged in what he assumed was liquid oxygen, his mind turned traitorous and wondered if the infant was used to switching between air and the liquid. If so, how many times had the infant been taken out and then placed back into the tank?

A huff of disgust left him before he could stop it, and he glanced around the room for anything to cover the child with. If he was taking him with, he’d need to be covered with something to protect him from the cold. It was then he noticed the shelves sitting just outside the light of the tanks. Upon them were heaped what looked like blankets and supplies for the infants. Bags, food, clothes…

Convenient. Again.

But he didn’t care. For all he knew the child could be a red herring with false information attached. If that was the case he’d gladly accept that he’d failed the mission in exchange for saving one of these children. He quickly packed a bag and filled it with what he could for the child. Supplies that he’d probably need considering there was no way in hell he was prepared to care for a child on the way back to his extraction point. Once a bag was packed and he had it situated on his back he turned his attention to the baby sleeping in his arms.

As Cor pulled the clothes on him, that was when the child started fussing. Its eyes popped open and immediately turned watery. Cor hurriedly finished dressing him and bundled him into a blanket.

“Shh,” Cor scooped the child back up from where he’d lain him and lightly bounced him, thanking the astrals that he’d seen Regis with the prince more than once, “Hey now. It’s alright.”

He spoke quietly to soothe the child, and watched the door. No one was coming so far. But the crying did make him second guess his choice. Only now did he remember that there were Magitek throughout the halls. Could the child be quiet enough to make it through them all? Did he dare risk an alternative route?

But then the baby quieted, and looked at Cor.

Cor without thinking really, offered his pinky to the child. The baby’s hand grabbed onto him, and cooed, but not happily, no. Rather, he just wanted to make noise it seemed. Cor kept his face neutral as he studied him.

Bright blue eyes stared into his and this time a happy coo did leave the baby’s mouth. Almost as if he was just happy to be looked at.

Cor inhaled slowly and then sighed, knowing this was the right choice, and turned his attention back to the door.

Back the way he came then. He could make in one shot if he ran maybe… Wait, shit. Running with a baby. Bad idea. He’d have to go as slowly as he came, if not slower. Plus, how was he going to explain that the mission might be a failure? Technically, this was…project Deathless. There was the paperwork, and he didn’t have to put in the report that he’d pretty much been guided here… They didn’t need to know he didn’t look anywhere else, right? And it might not be a red herring!

…

He was so fired.

But, he figured as he looked back down at the baby, it’d be worth it. If he could get them out of the facility and back to his extraction point that is.

“What do you think little guy? Can you manage to be quiet for that long?” He muttered.

The child squeaked rather loudly, but with a smile. Another slow sigh left Cor, followed by the child reaching up and hitting his nose lightly.

But that was when he heard footsteps at the door.

His head swiveled up and he froze, as did the woman who’d began to walk inside.

For a moment, they just stared at each other. Sizing each other up. Ordinarily, she wouldn’t have been a problem. She was clearly an academic. He could have incapacitated her within seconds of seeing her. However, the child in his arms posed a problem.

Her face, one of shock and fear, slowly turned into narrowed eyes and a hardened gaze.

“You…You’re Lucian…no?” Her voice was quiet and the words thickly accented. The woman sounded like she’d hardly spoken a word of Lucian until this point. But he still understood, and nodded slowly, his own eyes scrutinizing her, trying to figure out what she was doing.

“Yes.”

She glanced back at the door, giving him a moment of panic at the thought she was going to go get help. But then she stepped into the room quietly, and pressed the keypad beside it to shut the door.

“Quickly…The child… She said, turning back to him, her expression pleading.

“You…want me to take him?” He asked, confusion running across his face freely. He was anyways, but he’d expected her to have the opposite reaction. Like trying to stop him.

She nodded and then beckoned him to follow her over to the computer. He did, though slowly. She placed what looked like a jump drive into the man computer and began to sort through files. Over her shoulder he watched the screen. Data from the project streamed across it rapidly, and his grasp of Gralean only allowed him to catch small phrases, or part of a word. Something about demons? He frowned and tried harder to translate faster, but she moved from file to file too quickly.

Eventually, after minutes of silence, she stopped, closed all programs, and pulled out the drive. Her eyes met his as she handed him what was probably the most information Lucis would ever have on the Magitek. He took it from her, looking up with absolute confusion. She shrugged and gestured to the tanks.

“Project…Deathless.” She scoffed. “Many die.”

She shook her head, “It’s… This is not what…”

She said something in Gralean, which he took to mean she had meant to help the people. Which he understood how sometimes people could be twisted against themselves. He could hear the regret in her words. Perhaps she, like him, hoped to save at least one of the children from a life as a machine.

She gestured to him to follow her again and he did, tentatively. At the back of the room, a secret hall opened, and she stepped through. He peeked inside, and jumped when the child suddenly babbled. He’d almost forgotten he was in his arms. Of all things.

The woman turned and looked at the child fondly, almost with what Cor could call longing as well. But then she faced forward.

“This path leads to the…The-” She muttered what sounded like twenty different curses in Gralean before snapping her fingers, “-the entry hall.”

“No Magitek?” He asked, an eyebrow raised as he followed her. He knew following her blindly like this was stupid. It was. But part of him honestly wanted to believe that some shred of human decency could be found in this facility.

“Some.” She said, and he stopped in his tracks.

But then she held up her wrist, a silver band with a small red light going off every few seconds. “They won’t attack.”

“What is that?” He asked, starting to follow behind her again.

She glanced back at him, and then gestured to another doorway. “Electronic pass. They don’t attack.”

“That’s handy.” He mutters. Maybe if they had that in Lucis as well…they could use the Nif’s tech against them.

Almost as if she could hear his thoughts she added, “Also tracks. It… records our movement. We can’t leave.”

“We?” He frowned. Did she mean him and her, or her and someone else?

“Scientists.”

She then stopped and pushed him into a room.

“Hey-!”

“Shush!” She stepped in front of the doorway and blocked it from view. Rounding the corner was one of the Magitek security details. She dropped her gaze to the ground, but held up her wrist. There was a moment where it paused, but then it soon continued, not bothering to look inside the room she was blocking.

They waited a few moments until it was out of sight before she let him step back into the hall. They then continued at a fast pace.

“Hurry. The timing…” She shrugged as she walked, giving up on trying to get what she wanted across to him.

He understood though. Kind of. He could only guess, but he’d hoped she meant that if they timed it right, no further troubles would happen across them. And it was true. They went down hall after hall, with her in the lead, and came across nothing else. Soon enough, they were back into the lobby he’d started in.

She’d then paused in the room, and turned to look back at him. “May I…?”

She gestured to the baby and he nodded. So, she stepped closer to him and placed a hand on the child’s head, who burbled at the contact. Up close, he could see that she was about his age. Maybe a few years older possibly, but still in her twenties. And there was a definite sadness in her eyes as she looked at the baby.

Without meaning to, he asked, “Why are you helping me?”

The question, he thanked his lucky stars, didn’t offend her. Instead, a small smile crossed her face when the baby’s hand wrapped around one of her fingers.

She said quietly, “Let me at least save this one.”

He looked up at her and watched as she pulled her hand away from the baby’s grasp, and then took a step back.

“Go. In that file, you have the…names. You have the names of scientists here and other…Facilities? Who don’t want this.” She said, returning to the determined mindset from earlier.

“If you don’t want this, come with me.” He said without thinking. That same longing from earlier crossed her face.

“I can’t. Go out the door and-” she held up her wrist, “-Magitek will come.”

“We could out run them. You could come to Lucis.” He knew that what he was saying was a lie. They’d likely be caught. But there was a slim chance they’d make it. And, like before, it wasn’t sitting right with him to leave someone who, for all intents and purposes, was being forced to carry out these inhuman experiments.

She shook her head. “We do not expect to be saved, Lucian.”

He stared at her for a few moments, and opened his mouth to try and convince her to take the chance. Even though he was already taking one with the child, he was willing to try and get her out too. But then a voice startled both out of their conversation.

“Oh dear. A Lucian is making off with one of our star experiments.”

The voice sent chills up both their spines, and Cor whirled on heel to face whoever it was. The woman paled, but stood up a little straighter upon seeing who it was. And in his arms, the baby began to fuss.

“Chancellor.”

“Sunna.” The man strode into the room with a smirk on his face. “One of our researchers assisting a Lucian. What would Besithia say?”

“Who are you?” Cor, though he knew it was dangerous, drew his sword and held it in front of him one handed. An attempt to keep them safe.

“It doesn’t matter. Consider me a friend.” He grinned even wider, and Cor felt very uneasy.

“You’re no friend.” The woman, Sunna he recalled, said.

“Aw,” The Chancellor feigned being hurt by placing a hand over his heart, “And here I’d brought a gift.”

Cor watched as the man reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a metal key of some sort. Beside him Sunna stiffened.

“The key to your freedom Sunna. Imagine. No more hurting those children you seem to adore. No more learning from Besithia.” He smiled.

Cor glanced at her, and saw that she was looking at her wrist. But then she looked up and her eyes narrowed. She was going to refuse, it was clear on her face. Before she could respond, Cor cut her off, seeing an opportunity to get her out of there as well.

“What’s the cost?”

The man smiled, and instead of answering, tossed the key over. Sunna’s face was bewildered as she caught it. “No cost. I merely wish to aid you in your mission.”

Cor grimaced, “There’s always a catch.”

“Oh…Alright. I wish for you to return my map to where it was.” The man laughed as Cor visibly paled.

“You…It was you?”

“Oh yes. We knew of your mission months ago. Or rather I did. And I saw an opportunity.” The man out stretched his arms, gesturing to the whole facility. “This facility. Easy to get into and out of wouldn’t you say? And if Sunna had the resources, that thing on her wrist wouldn’t have stopped her from leaving. She’d have been able to get out of it I’m sure.”

“But alas, no matter how much I told Besithia that the security was lacking, he has not listened. And so…” He gestured to the three of them. “Once he hears that not only a scientist escaped, with one of the experiments, and at a Lucian’s side none the less…He’d have no choice but to better our security.”

The reason sounded as insincere as they came. But Cor wasn’t going to question it any further. He recognized a snake when he heard one. So instead of responding, he turned to Sunna.

“Hurry, take that off.”

She startled out of whatever thoughts she’d been having and moved to comply. She looked…hopeful almost. And soon enough, the bracelet clicked open and dropped to the floor. She kicked it for good measure, sending it sliding to a stop at the man’s feet.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” He said, almost playfully, “Unless you’ve changed your mind. I’m more than willing to take the child back.”

He held out his arms at the same time Cor tightened his hold when the baby let out a soft coo. “Not on your life.”

“Oh? Pity, and I thought we were friends. Ah well.” The man then turned on heel, and began to leave. As he left he called back over his shoulder, “You’d best hurry on by the way, the other scientist will be waking soon.”

When he was finally gone, they both stood in stunned silence. But then they both turned into a flurry of movement. He placed the map back where he’d found it, note and all, and sheathed his sword. Sunna accessed a box of jackets, for when the scientists had to go outside and put one on, alongside a hat and gloves. She then took an extra one out as well and hat as small as she could find.

She then walked over to Cor and then arranged the hat on the baby’s head. “For the child, the blanket will not be enough.”

She said in explanation, and gestured for him to hand him over. He did so without complaint. Sunna could be trusted, he was sure of that now. She tucked the bottom of the coat over the baby’s feet before zipping it up and tucking the rest around him, creating a makeshift snowsuit. Then she picked him back up and cradled him to herself. In her arms, the child began to drift back to sleep.

“We need to go. That man…” She started, but Cor stepped forward and to the door.

“Come on then.”

He felt like she had more to say, but it was better to leave sooner. Considering that he originally was sure he’d failed the mission, and only just now realized that he was coming back with the project data, one of the experiments, AND a researcher, he did NOT want to tempt his luck by staying any longer. What she had to say could wait.

And so, for what she hoped was the last time, Sunna keyed in the code and opened the door to the outside. They both then stepped outside, and departed, the tracks left behind them disappearing as the snow quietly fell around them.

**Author's Note:**

> Sunna becomes a Citadel doctor, and cries after she examines Prompto years later for his physical to join the crownsguard. She's very proud of him. (Also lowkey, her and Cor occasionally did look in on him, and would celebrate his birthday together. A reminder that they saved one life, despite all the ones they'd taken.) (Prompto also hears her accent and gets a warm fuzzy feeling in his chest but doesn't know why.)


End file.
